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OUR PEOPLE
The people powering the movement
TRUSTEES
Meet The Trustees
Sophie Ashby Co-Founder
Alex Dauley Co-Founder
Lucy Findlay
Professor Graeme Brooker
Coleen Mensa
Isaac Nwaku
Bushra Ahmed
Janet Morgan-Smith
Administration Support
Janet Morgan-Smith is the Charity Administrator at United in Design. Prior to this, she worked in the Education sector for over 20 years in roles including office and school business management. She loves working with people to initiate change and would definitely list Social Justice and creative pursuits amongst her passions.
Our Collaborators
Simon Hamilton
Simon Hamilton is an interior designer, design tutor and Founder of Design Career Consulting, which helps design professionals put their best foot forward. He has operated as a creative within the built environment sector for 3 decades, and lends his deep knowledge of the industry to UiD through contribution to the Resource Hub.
Grant Pierrus
Building a strong design community is what drives Grant Pierrus in his various business activities. Combining his enthusiasm and skills, the award winning Interior Style Hunter has collaborated with some of the best interior designers and luxury brands on engaging, effective and creative campaigns. In addition to Interior Style Hunter, Grant owns Pierrus Agency, a dedicated marketing agency for interior designers and architects.
Busola Evans
Busola Evans is the executive editor at The World of Interiors and editor of its highly-regarded online directory, The Interiors Index. With over 20 years experience in journalism, Busola has written for a number of newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Sunday Times Magazine and Livingetc magazine, whilst being the deputy chairperson of Women In Journalism.
Sophie Eastop-Scopes
Social Media & Marketing Support
With over 15 years experience working across multiple industries in admin, social media and marketing, Sophie Eastop-Scopes supports the United in Design team with all things social media and general marketing.
Josie Dayment
Bookkeeper
Josie Dayment has been running her own bookkeeping business since 2018 and is the Finance manager at United in Design. She has extensive experience working with limited companies, charities and C.I.Cs. Before forging a career in bookkeeping Josie worked in education specialising in music and the creative arts.
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United in Design Steering Committee
Mimi Shodeinde
Fameed Khalique
Miminat Designs
Fameed Khalique
Laura Hammett
Simon Rawlings
Laura Hammett LTD
David Collins Studio
Miles de Lange
Tolu Adeko
MILES
Adẹ̀kọ́ & Co
Hay Joung
Natalia Miyar
Hay Designs
Natalia Miyar Atelier
Emily Tobin
Hatta Byng
World of Interiors
House & Garden
Graduate Internship Partners 2023/24
Educational Partner.
Why Now?
On June 4th 2020, in light of the murder of George Floyd and the global anti-racism uprising, Sophie Ashby released a public statement on the Studio Ashby Instagram account in response to #blackouttuesday; Sophie’s only ambition at the time was to make it clear that, as a company, Studio Ashby was taking the time to scrutinise it’s position within the industry, be honest about shortcomings in running a diverse company and vowing to take a good look at how to change things. Sophie also acknowledged something we’ve all known for a long time, that the world of interior design is difficult to get into and often kickstarted by established connections providing that all important ‘foot in the door’.
At the same time, Alexandria Dauley, having trained and tutored at KLC School of Design, had seen first-hand the lack of diversity coming through the doors of our training providers. She reached out to several people of colour within the Interior Design industry to discuss and understand their challenges and experiences, asking what they felt needed to happen to address issues of inequality. Motivated by the conversations she had, Alexandria reached out to magazine editors and leaders in the industry to specifically promote the benefits of schools outreach programmes, having had her own personal success story in the form of her daughter, now a ballerina at the Royal Ballet School thanks to a brilliant initiative “Chance to Dance”.
Sophie and Alexandria soon joined forces. Encouraged and supported by key industry leaders and pledges of support from peers, they decided to launch United in Design fuelled by the belief that words are not enough and that what we need now – is diversity in action.